where the past can't reach us // zuko x reader

Chapter Fourteen - The Journey

"So you were showing me the octopus form?" asked Aang.

The group had stopped by a lake, and now, Aang, Katara and (y/n) were practicing waterbending while Sokka floated by on a leaf, Momo sleeping on his stomach. Aang was making progress with waterbending fast, so Katara felt that it was time to teach him one of the more advanced moves she'd learned from Master Pakku.

"Right, let me see your stance," she said.

Aang moved to replicate the stance she'd shown him a few minutes ago. Katara looked on in concentration for a moment, before realising where improvement was needed.

"Your arms are too far apart. See, if you move them closer together, you protect your center. You got it?"

"Oh yeah..." mumbled Aang, blushing as Katara put his arms into the right position. "Thanks."

Katara walked away and assumed a fighting stance, confident now that Aang had understood. "Okay, let's see what you got."

(y/n) looked on in astonishment as tentacles the size of Aang himself rose up out of the water, each one moving individually to fend off shards of ice that Katara sent his way, until eventually, a tentacle grabbed her leg, and they were done.

"You make a fine octopus, Pupil Aang," she congratulated. As Aang danced around playfully at the comment, she turned towards (y/n).

"Okay, now it's your turn to practice."

(y/n) had made significantly less progress than Aang in the past weeks, and even that was an overstatement. Where Aang was already doing advanced moves that would put most benders in the Northern Water Tribe to shame, she was still... well, not even on the basics.

"Let's just go over what we did last time again," said Katara, relaxed and patient as ever. "Just concentrate on the water. Slowly, gently... just push... and pull..."

(y/n) tried. She always did try, and by now she remembered the stance so well that Katara wouldn't have shifted the position of her arms or legs by a millimeter. Still, her movements... once again, something about them wasn't quite right. It took Katara a minute to pick up on what exactly it was, but once she did, she quickly pointed it out.

"(y/n), the way you're moving your hands... It's too relaxed. It's not air – it doesn't need freedom, it needs guidance. It's good that you're being gentle, but try again, firmer this time."

(y/n) gave it another go. Firmer, Katara had said, right? Push and pull. She attempted to push.

"No, not like that." Katara shook her head. "You're trying to push, but it's coming out more like a shove. Try being a bit less forceful this time, really feel the flow of the water."

A tiny ripple appeared on the surface of the lake as (y/n) did her best to put Katara's advice into practice.

"That's great, (y/n)!" exclaimed Katara, "That's progress! Keep going, move your left arm – no! Gentler, slower, upwards, yes that's it! – No, firmer now – Oh."

The ripple was gone, disappearing as soon as it had come, and (y/n) blushed a little as she realised that, for the past few seconds, she'd been flailing her arms aimlessly in midair. The surface of the lake was flat and unmoving as ever, all evidence of her not being completely hopeless at waterbending having vanished without a trace. This wasn't the first time (y/n) had gotten this far, but once the initial ripple was made, the water had always refused to do anything else, and all of (y/n)'s attempts to bring it back amounted to nothing. This time was no different, and Katara did her best to suppress her disappointment. (y/n) was trying her best, she reminded herself, and with enough support and positive reinforcement, she'd get there in the end. That's what she hoped for, anyway.